"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

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Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Dirty Times = Fast Times

The Danes (and residents) are dealing with cold, windy rain today. It being such a tiny country, at least we know we're all suffering together. Today my goal was 6 x 1 mile intervals all under 7 minutes. It felt strange to be wearing a hat and gloves on May 12th. The French would call weather like this "dirty times" (du sale temps) and there is something about that saying that makes experiencing it a little more bearable.

I felt unbelievably good today. I have lost almost 1 kg since the last interval session a week ago and, boy, did it make a difference.

Mile 1: 6:34Mile 2: 6:36 (removal of long-sleeved shirt, hat and gloves remain)Mile 3: 6:33Mile 4: 6:47Mile 5: 6:43I didn't feel like I had it in me to run the last mile at under 7 into the wind. I couldn't find another woman runner to battle. No one was running today. So I relied on Apples In Stereo yet again to help me through with "Dance Floor".Mile 6: 6:49!

This is my fastest and most consistent interval session to date. I am so pleased. It is the last speed work I'll do before Copenhagen Marathon.

Running Song of the Day (also happens to be French): Désolé by Sexion D'Assaut

6 comments:

Congratulations on those fast times! I know I've probably missed a whole explanation section, but -- any quick advice on how to get into a position to run such quick miles? I do interval training every day but am still far from running a 6:34 mile. Did you just speed up gradually over time? Thanks!!

Thanks for your comment SLG. I am pretty sure it is much better in the Czech Rep and Slovakia now than the time when you visited:) It is definitely more colorful and economy is doing much better.And it is interesting because everybody in Slovakia complains how everything is of a poor quality now (well, at least everything coming from Asia). Back than you bought a car and it lasted for 20 years, or bought a swimming suit and you could wear it for years and years and it would not fall apart. But of course I guess that all swim suits and cars were either gray or brown:)I am going to follow your advice and I will try not to cut down too much on my training, only run on soft surfaces and I'll see what happens.

Hello from Rude Skov

Photo by Stine Sophie Winckel

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My name is Tracy. I am a physician scientist from the USA, living with my husband and two young boys in Denmark. I work as a post-doc fellow at Næstved Hospital. I have a scientific interest in vision loss, vision loss during exercise, exercise, running during pregnancy, MAF training as well as nutrition and health for athletes. I also have a love for music, physics, statistics, cycling, yoga, cross-country skiing, bla bla bal.

I was a member of Team USA at the IAU World Championships in Ultra Trail Running in 2013 in Wales. I am now training to run with Team Denmark at the IAU World Championships in Annency, France in May 2015.